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NASA Investigating First Crime Committed In Space

  Advertisement US space agency NASA is investigating what may be the first crime committed in outer space, The New York Times reported Saturday. Astronaut … Continue reading NASA Investigating First Crime Committed In Space

By Soonest Nathaniel
Updated August 26, 2019
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This March 2, 2015 NASA artist’s concept obtained November 1, 2018 shows NASA’s Dawn spacecraft arriving at the dwarf planet Ceres (lower right), travelling through space using a technology called ion propulsion, in which ions are accelerated out of an engine, giving the spacecraft thrust, the xenon ions glow with blue light. Dawn, a NASA spacecraft that launched 11 years ago and studied two of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, has ended its mission after running out of fuel, officials said November 1, 2018. Scientists have known for about a month that Dawn was essentially out of its fuel, hydrazine, which kept the spacecraft’s antennae oriented toward Earth and helped it turn its solar panels to the Sun to recharge. Then, the spacecraft missed scheduled communications with NASA’s Deep Space Network on Wednesday and Thursday, and the space agency declared it formally dead. HO / NASA/JPL-CALTECH / AFP

 

US space agency NASA is investigating what may be the first crime committed in outer space, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Astronaut Anne McClain is accused of identity theft and improperly accessing her estranged wife’s private financial records while on a sixth-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the Times said.

The astronaut’s spouse Summer Worden filed a complaint earlier this year with the Federal Trade Commission after learning McClain had accessed her bank account without permission, while Worden’s family filed another with NASA’s Office of Inspector General, according to the newspaper.

McClain’s lawyer said the astronaut had done nothing wrong and accessed the bank records while aboard the ISS in order to monitor the couple’s combined finances — something she had done over the course of their relationship, the Times reported.

NASA investigators have contacted both women, according to the newspaper.

McClain, who returned to Earth in June, gained fame for being one of two women picked for a historic all-female spacewalk, but NASA scrapped the planned walk in March due to a lack of well-fitting spacesuits, sparking accusations of sexism.

Worden said the FTC has not responded to the identity theft report, but that an investigator specializing in criminal cases with NASA’s Office of Inspector General has been looking into the accusation, according to the Times.

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